Cotopaxi
It was my second full day in Quito. There were two options to visit the Cotopaxi Volcano, either Wednesdays or Fridays. So I decided to get it out of the way asap, check the box. Big big mistake.
With less of 48 hours of altitude acclimatisation I decided to go for it, what a fool! The parking lot where the bus left us was already at 4,495 meters high. As I left the bus I felt the sudden shock of such staggering altitude to my body and senses.
Even the first step was difficult, I started walking with the group and for the first 10 seconds I almost decided to stay back. My body was hurting, my brain was confused, I was dazed and confused literally. Unsure about what to do I stopped for a bit to recover my breath and tried to put myself together. The guide asked me if I was ok, I said not sure. Then I saw two other people of the group who were behind me fighting for their lives as well.
After a minute or so I was able to continue. The distance from the parking lot to the base camp is about 1km. I kid you not, it was the most difficult kilometer of my entire life. I had to stop to take pictures every minute, to take a break and recover my breath. My heart was beating as if I was running a Marathon and it was such an alien feeling to me, I have a very very low cardiac rhythm normally. My heart was just desperately trying to pump blood to my brain to prevent me from passing out.
It took me about 1.5 hours to get to the base camp, yes for 1 km and about 300 meters in altitude. Altitude is a bitch. Already at the base camp the guide asked us if we wanted to go a bit further to see the glacier and well we said yes. Here we go again. It even a shorter distance, probably 200 meters, but another 200 meters in altitude too!
Always at the end of the line, I started to walk again and took me another 30 mins to get to the glacier. My brain was not screaming anymore but I was definitely in pain. As we arrived to the glacier I felt a sudden and immense sensation of accomplishment. I had made it, I was there, let’s take pictures!
After the mandatory round of pictures we headed back to the base camp to have some hot chocolate and just be happy about what we had just accomplished. After some time there we went back to the parking lot, it took me 15 minutes to get there. What a joke.
On the way down I came across some of the porters who take supplies to the base camp. I stopped to talk to them and ask them how much weight they were carrying, they told me they were taking 40 kgs each. Wtf! And they do this on a daily basis. They are real superhumans.
Finally we went for some lunch, since it was already 3pm. Late lunch. But the lunch didn’t disappoint and we even hung out with some llamas at the restaurant.
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Back at the hotel I went to bed at around 8 pm and passed out for about 12 hours. My body was exhausted. But I was happy I had one more story to tell.
